Chiyang Daoren, Eastern Taoism
Mountain is the way of immortals, Medicine the way of humans, Destiny the way of spirits, Physiognomy the way of earth, and Divination the way of heaven. The arts are the applications of the Tao.
The “Five Arts” of Taoism are five ancient esoteric disciplines, vast, complex, and profound.
Based on the I Ching (Book of Changes) and taking yin and yang and the Five Phases as their principles, they encompass the cosmos, heaven and earth, and the human body; they transcend time and space, set yin and yang in motion, and reveal how the myriad things interact and the endlessly changing ways of the Tao. The “Five Arts” belong to ancient metaphysics and philosophy and crystallize the great wisdom of the ancients.
The “Five Arts” refer specifically to five ancient fields of learning: Mountain, Medicine, Destiny, Physiognomy, and Divination. Before the Qin and Han dynasties, the “Five Arts” were called the “occult arts” (fangshu), and their practitioners were naturally called “masters of the arts” (fangshi). It was these people who angered the First Emperor of Qin, not the so-called scholars of later rumor.
1. The “Mountain Art” of the Five Arts
The “Mountain Art” ranks first among the Five Arts. Put simply, it is the Taoist method of cultivation, and it is the most difficult of the five. The “Mountain Art” is what we know better as the Taoist “art of immortality,” a discipline devoted to transcending mortal life.
In essence, the “Mountain Art” uses certain special means—including diet, classical study, and martial arts—and draws on the natural energy of the cosmos to keep raising the “body” and “spirit” level by level, finally reaching beyond the mundane. This is what we hear of as “attaining the Tao,” what Taoism calls “stealing from heaven and earth and seizing the powers of creation.”
1. “Dietary Regimen”: Gathering herbs and refining medicines and elixirs, raising the body’s energy through supplementing and refining, while preventing and treating illness. Of course, it also includes a sensible everyday diet. Picture Huang Yaoshi in Jin Yong’s novels gathering herbs to make his Nine-Flower Jade Dew Pills.
2. “Elixir Methods”: This is a method of practice unique to Taoism, said to draw in the energy of heaven and earth and to transform and raise essence, qi, and spirit. Picture Huang Yaoshi in Jin Yong’s novels circulating his qi to open up his sinews, bones, and meridians.
3. “Mysterious Classics”: This is the theoretical foundation. All cultivation must rest on some method, and for Taoism that is of course the thought of Laozi and Zhuangzi. Laozi said, “Clarity and stillness set the world right” (Tao Te Ching, chapter 45). This cultivation nurtures the mind and nature and elevates one’s state of mind. Picture Huang Yaoshi in Jin Yong’s novels reading a book in his hands.
4. “Martial Arts”: Martial arts and yoga have flourished since ancient times; they strengthen the body, exercise the sinews and bones, open the meridians, and build physique. Once more, picture Huang Yaoshi in Jin Yong’s novels practicing his Falling Blossom Divine Sword Palm.
5. “Talismans and Incantations”: A very ancient magical art, dating to the Shang and Zhou dynasties or even earlier, when the chief shamans held positions like that of state preceptor and were believed to be able to communicate with the gods. Talismans and incantations are thus an ancient method of communicating with the gods, drawing on natural energy to attract good fortune and subdue evil. Here we can only imagine Huang Yaoshi’s “Song of the Tide Rising over the Jade Sea” in Jin Yong’s novels.
Summary: “Mountain” is a many-pronged discipline of cultivation that uses different methods—elixir arts, diet, martial arts, theory, and so on—moving from theory to practice and from body to spirit. Its aim is to go from quantitative to qualitative change and transcend mortal life. Even becoming one of the “Five Greats” like Huang Yaoshi would not be bad!
2. The “Medical Art” of the Five Arts
This one is more familiar to most people. Ancient medicine is broad and profound, and Taoism uses pharmacology, acupuncture, massage, and still more mysterious methods of healing to treat illness, maintain health, and aid recuperation. The “Medical Art” here should be understood as a general term for the medicine of all the peoples of China.
1. “Formulas and Medicines”: These can simply be understood as prescriptions and preparations. They are a direct means of treatment, and in Taoism they are also an art of cultivation.
2. “Acupuncture and Moxibustion”: The forerunner of today’s acupuncture, it regulates the body’s physiological functions by stimulating the meridians and the circulation of qi and blood.
3. “Massage”: Trained Taoist clergy use various techniques (palm, finger, fist) on the body’s acupoints to regulate the functions of the five zang organs and six fu organs.
4. “Spiritual Healing”: This is rather mysterious: an art of applying talismans and chanting incantations, mainly to treat and regulate spiritual “illnesses of deficiency.”
Summary: “Medicine” is a method of treating illness and aiding recuperation through various means—medicines, physical techniques, spiritual healing, and so on.
3. The “Destiny Art” of the Five Arts
The “Destiny Art” studies and analyzes the influence or effects of the outside world on the human being in order to reason out future fortunes, understand one’s life, guard against trouble before it comes, and seek good fortune while avoiding misfortune.
This “outside world” can be understood as the cosmos, the sun, moon, and stars, and so on. It may involve celestial phenomena, yin and yang and the Five Phases, time and space, and their positive or negative effects on people, with a great deal of abstract theory.
1. Ziwei Doushu (Purple Star Astrology): This involves astronomy and the stars. From one’s birth data (the eight characters of BaZi) it derives the Life Palace, determines one’s character, and can analyze one’s fortunes in life. Ziwei Doushu analysis is very detailed but extremely complex.
2. “Ziping Fate Calculation” and “Xingping Huihai”: Based on the double hour of a person’s birth combined with yin and yang and the Five Elements, these deduce the good and bad fortune, blessings and calamities, poverty and wealth, and length of life over a person’s whole life.
Summary: “Destiny” is an ancient esoteric art that predicts one’s life by calculating fortunes, so that one may seek good fortune and avoid misfortune.
4. The “Physiognomy Art” of the Five Arts
The “Physiognomy Art,” in short, is an esoteric art of observing outer forms to know what lies within. By observing outward “appearances,” it probes their inner meaning. It falls into three main categories: astrology, feng shui, and human physiognomy.
1. Astrology: This interprets the phenomena of all things in the world and their interrelations according to the positions and changes of the sun, moon, and stars. This is for masters.
2. Face Reading (Human Physiognomy): By observing the facial features and other distinctive traits of the face, including the “air” they give off, it analyzes fortune and health. Palm reading mainly observes the lines of the hand, on the same principles.
3. Feng shui: It is divided into “yin and yang feng shui,” that is, the feng shui of places for the living, such as homes and offices, and of graves for the dead. In essence, it observes and analyzes the appearance of the environment to infer its effects on people’s good and bad fortune, blessings and calamities, and makes adjustments to the layout so as to optimize the environment for those in both the realm of the living and the realm of the dead.
Summary: “Physiognomy” observes outward appearances to study how they act upon people or other things, with the aim of seeking good fortune and avoiding misfortune.
5. The “Divination Art” of the Five Arts
Bu, “divination,” is short for bushi, divination by turtle shell and yarrow. Bu is divination with tortoise shells; shi is divination with yarrow stalks. Bushi was an ancient shamanic art of asking about good and bad fortune so as to act accordingly, and it was already very popular in the Shang dynasty. It can be further divided into ordinary divination (divination by the Changes) and divination by the Three Arts. The Three Arts—Taiyi, Qimen, and Liuren—belong to the numerological arts of the I Ching and were the highest and most advanced forms of prediction in ancient times.
1. “Divination”: “The superior person is careful at the beginning; a difference of a hair’s breadth leads to an error of a thousand li.” The I Ching holds that a tiny difference may have a great effect on the outcome. Divination uses the I Ching as its theory, combined with the interaction between humans and the natural world, to calculate good and bad fortune.
2. “Divination by the Three Arts”: This reflects the Taoist idea of “harmony among heaven, earth, and humanity.”
3. “Taiyi Divination”: It focuses on predicting major events such as natural disasters, and belongs to “divining heaven.”
4. “Qimen (Dunjia)”: It focuses on the advantages and dangers of the geographical environment, and belongs to “divining earth.”
5. “Liuren”: It focuses on the everyday affairs of ordinary people, and belongs to “divining humanity.”
Summary: “Divination” predicts good and bad fortune through different methods of divination, so as to handle affairs accordingly. Its scope covers everyday life, personal fortune and adversity, production and work, the fate of the nation, and major military and political affairs…